Floating door



Aug. 5, 1958 M. B. LINTON 5 FLOATING DOOR Filed July 11, 1955 ZF/l/eflfw Merwyn B. Linton United States Patent FLOATING DOOR Mel'wyn B. Linton, Austin, Tex. Application July 11, 1955, Serial No. 520,973 7 Claims. (Cl. 19)

This invention relates to the art of supporting sliding doors, and, particularly, to an improved support for a sliding garage door.

The conventional sliding garage door which travels on rollers is a noisy, rattling affair, and very disturbing late at night; especially so, where the garage is built into the house according to the prevailing architectural fashion.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide a sliding garage door which is smooth and substantially noiseless in operation.

It is a further object of my-invention to provide a floating door in which the door hangs by a combination of levers from a central point and swings from side to side to open and close noiselessly.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a floating door which is centrally supported and which travels between its extremes of movement in a path substantially parallel to adjacent portions of the floor and ceiling.

Other objects and further advantages of my invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description proceeds.

I shall first describe one embodiment of my invention, and shall then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the drawings,

Figure l is a side view, partly in section, and with parts removed, of a garage door according to one embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 is an end View of the device of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a fragmentary view showing a detail of the structure of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, reference numeral 10 ingenerally. In the specific emthe door is suspended from its 'associdicates the door assembly l -bodiment shown,

ated structure by means of a system of links which are, in turn, carried by a support structure including the two vertical beams 11 and 12 which support a pair of support rods 13 and 14. Pivotally suspended from thesesupport rods 13 and 14 are a pair of main suspension links 15 .and 16, as will be seen most clearly in Fig. 1, these links being swingable in a plane parallel to the path of movement of the door assembly, such path of movement of the door being from left to right and vice versa in Fig. 1. In Fig. l, the full and dotted line positions of the link system illustrate the extremes of movement of the door assembly between its fully open and fully closed positions.

In the particular construction shown, the door is provided with front and rear panels 17 and 18 which prodicated generally by the reference character 19 whereas the bottom edge of the door is closed by the panel member 20 which serves to interconnect the lower horizontal edges of the panels 17 and 18. The linkage system is disposed substantially wholly within the confines of the door assembly between the front and rear panels thereof, as will be seen most clearly in Fig. 2.

A pair of secondary suspension links 21 and 22 are vide an opening along the top edge of the door as in-,

Patented Aug. 5, 1958 disposed within the door and are pivotally connected at their upper ends by means of pins 23 and 24 to the door and the lower ends of these secondary suspension links are pivotally connected to the lower ends of the primary or main suspension links 15 and 16 by means of horizontal pins 25 and 26. As will be seen most clearly in Fig. 2, the construction may be such that on either side of the main suspension links 15 and 16, there is an identical linkage system, each of which incorporates the various linkage members described above and hereinafter referred to. The system of links is the same on each side of the main links 15 and 16 and description of the system at only one side is believed to be sufiicient.

From Fig. 2 it will be noted that the secondary links 21 and 22, which in that figure are disposed one behind the other, are disposed in laterally spaced parallel relationship to the main links 15 and 16 so as to provide a substantial space therebetween sufiicient to provide room for the other links herein-after described.

There are two pairs of intermediate link members, designated by the reference numerals 27 and 28 respectively. The first pair of these links 27, as shown in Fig. 2, are disposed in spaced parallelism with the main suspension links 15 and 16 and are respectively connected at their lower ends to these main links by the pin members 29 whereas at their upper ends, the two pairs of intermediate links 27 and 28 are pivotally interconnected by the two pin members 30 and 31 with the second intermediate pair of links 28 being disposed in spaced paral lelism to and closely adjacent the secondary links 21 and 22 and with each of said second pair of intermediate links being respectively pivotally connected to the secondary suspension links by means of the pins 32 and 33. In this manner, the first intermediate links 27 are disposed closely adjacent the main suspension links whereas the second intermediate links 28 are disposed most closely adjacent the secondary suspension links 21 and 22.

With the linkage system as above described, it will be apparent that a parallelogram system is achieved and, in this respect, it will be noted that the various pins 29, 32 and 33 are disposed in a common horizontal plane with the links 27 and 28 being of an equal length between their pivotal connections to each other and to their respective main and secondary suspension links so that when the door 10 is reciprocated between its two extreme positions as illustrated by the full and dotted line illustration of the linkage system in Fig. 1, the path of movement of the door will be rectilinear. Due to the fact that the intermediate links 27 and 28 are sandwiched between the main and secondary suspension links and none of the links are disposed in the path of movement of any of the others, the linkage system will be permitted to cross over or pass by iii the manner illustratedin Fig. 1 between the full and dotted line positions so as to achieve the two extreme positions of the door. a

For the purpose of fixing the extreme positions of the door, a guide plate member 34 may be provided. This guide plate is sandwiched between the pairs of first and second intermediate links 27 and 28 and is joined thereto at its upper end by having the pins 30 and 31 pass therethrough as will be seen most clearly in Fig. 2, and the lower end of the guide plate is provided with a pair of vertically elongate slots 35 and 36 through which the pins 25 and 26 pass. The length and positioning of the slots 35 and 36 determine the extreme position limits of the door. For example, when the door is in the fully closed position, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, this extreme position of the door is fixed by virtue of the fact that the pins 25 and 26 engage the uppermost ends of the slots 35 and 36 to prevent further movement of the door and the linkage system to the right in Fig. 1. When the door is swung to its other extreme position as is illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. l, the pins 25 and 26 will once again be positioned against the uppermost limits of the slots 35 and 36 to tlrus fix the other extreme position of the door.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3, the guide plate 341 is provided with avertically elongate notch. 37 intermediate and parallel to the two slots 35' and 36' so as to in effect bifurcate the lower end of the guide plate. Disposed within this notch 37 is a tension spring 38 having its upper end 39 hooked through a suitable aperture. 40 in the guide plate and having its lower end 41 hooked around a bar 42' which passes through a" pair of brackets 43 which are apertured to receive the previously mentioned pins 25 and 26.. Thus, with the spring 38 under tension in the position shown in Fig. 3, a constant vertically upward force is exerted on the pins 25 and 26 and, hence, the force is of such a nature as to tend to spreadthe linkage and force the pins 25 and 26. to their upper limit of motion within the slots 35 and 36 of the guide plate. By this means, once the main and secondary suspension links are disposed on one side or the other ofa dead center position, the spring 38 will. tendto extend the. linkage system to one or the other of its extreme positions.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a floating door assembly, a. reciprocable door movable into and out of closing. relation to an associated opening, an overhead support, a pair of suspension links pivotally connected at their upper ends to said support and swingable in a plane parallel. to the. path of movement of said door, a pair of secondary suspension links pivotally connected at their upper ends to said door about an axis perpendicular to the path of movement of the door and disposed in laterally spaced relation to the first mentioned suspension links, means pivotally interconnecting the lower ends of the first and secondary suspension links, a first pair of intermediate links, one

of. said intermediate links having its lower end pivotally connected to one of the secondary suspension links, the lower end of the other intermediate link being. pivotally connected to one of said main suspension links, a second pair of intermediate links, one of said second pair of intermediate links having its lower end pivotally connected to the other of said secondary suspension links, the lower end of the other intermediate link of'said. second pair of links being connected to the other of said main suspension links and the upper ends of each pair of said intermediate links being pivotally interconnected with all such pivotal connections of the intermediate links being about axes perpendicular to the path of. movement of said door, and said intermediate links being" disposed in side-by-side relation and sandwiched between corresponding first and secondary suspension links with each intermediate link being. most closely adjacent its corresponding first suspension link and the. other intermediate link being most closely adjacent its corresponding secondary suspension. link, whereby none ofv the links are disposed in the path of movement of each other so '4 that the links may move past each other as the door is moved between its extreme positions.

2. The assembly as defined in and by claim 1, and means limiting the extreme positions of said door.

3. The assembly as defined in and by claim 2, wherein said means comprises a guide plate sandwiched between said intermediate links and pivotally connected thereto at the point of pivotal connection between such links, and said guide plate being connected to the lower ends of said first and secondary suspension links'so as to permit limited vertical movement between the guide plate and the suspension links.

4. In a floating door assembly, a reciprocable door movable into and out of closing relation to an associated opening, an overhead support including a pair of spaced parallel, horizontal support rods extending above said door transversely to the path of movement thereof, a pair of parallel main suspension links pivotally connected at their upper ends to respective ones of said support rods, a pair of parallel secondary suspension links pivotally connected at their upper ends to said door. and disposed. inlaterally spaced relation to the main suspension links, a pair of pins pivotally interconnecting the lower ends of the main and secondary suspension links, a first pair of. intermediate links pivotally connected. at their lower ends to respective ones of. said main suspension links adjacent thereto and within the space between the main and secondary suspension links, a second pair of intermediate links pivotally connected at their lower ends to respective ones of said secondary suspension links adjacent thereto and disposed between such secondary links and said first intermediate links, a pair of pins projecting through and pivotally interconnecting. the upper ends of respective ones of said intermediate links, and means interconnecting the first and last mentioned pairs of pins for limiting the extreme positions of said. door.

5. The assembly as defined in and by claim 4, wherein said means comprises a guide plate having a pair of apertures at its upper end receiving the last mentioned pair of pins and a pair of vertically elongate slots adjacent its lower end receiving the first mentioned pair at pins.

6. The assembly as defined in and by claim 4 including means resiliently urging said main and secondary links into spread-apart relation.

7. The assembly as defined in and by claim 4 wherein said means comprises a guide plate having a pair of apertures at its upper end receiving the last mentioned pair of pins and a pair of vertically elongate slots adjacent its lower end receiving the first mentioned pair of pins, and a tension spring connected between said guide plate and said first mentioned pair of pins for urging said door toward one of its extreme positions.

Forbes etal. Aug, 18, 1896 Norman Oct. 30, 1951 

